Hucheng was a small place.
In such a small place, good news and bad news spread equally as fast.
The news of a famous entrepreneur, Jiang Chen, visiting his relatives and donating a five million school building to his alma mater instantly circulated in this small place.
There were plenty of people who made money in recent years, but there were not many who thought about their hometown. For a time, various titles such as “conscientious businessman” was named after Jiang Chen. As such, even the city officials also specially came to visit him.
They didn’t receive any news of Jiang Chen returning to Hucheng to visit his relatives. After all, the General Staff Department kept his itinerary an absolute secret. Not only the city officials, but even the media also didn’t receive a single bit of information. Not until the cheap Wu Zechen, who benefited the most from this, held a school ceremony and made a conference did the reporters receive the news.
For a time, the previously quiet Jinsha Steel Plant residential area was instantly in an uproar.
The city officials visiting him sent him a plaque of two meters in length in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of his hometown. In response, Jiang Chen was naturally gratified.
As for the mayor wearing a huge smile, he immediately proposed potential partnerships and stated he was willing to provide additional generous policies for the staff of Future Technology.
Jiang Chen only smiled at the offer proposed by the mayor and didn’t outright agreed. He just politely expressed his gratitude towards the government’s enthusiastic reception, but because the development strategy of the company must be discussed with the company executives, he could not commit just yet.
But what Jiang Chen didn’t expect was that after the city officials left, the district leaders also came for a visit. This made Jiang Chen at a loss on how to react as he didn’t expect that just by donating a school building on a whim would make his home feel like a tea shop with people constantly visiting him. The steel plant leaders, the directors of the board of education, and the relatives he hadn’t met before all visited him.
Simply put, these past few days was annoying the heck out of him. He was planning to donate a road before he left, but given the present state of affairs, it would need to wait until he left.
But seeing how happy his parents were, he did not say anything.
His home had been quite uneventful these recent years as the two elderlies lived a rather secluded life. Because they were just average workers, the relatives from their hometown didn’t really visit as they would only chat with their neighbors while they were shopping. When did they ever experience something of this scale?
Not only those relatives who came from different places came and stopped, but even those fulltime top officials came running to their door to ask about their well-being. Astonished by the treatment that their son was receiving, they finally had an idea on how successful their son was.
But even then, there was no escaping the matchmaking…
…
“You made such a bold move, and this increased the difficulty of our work.” Leaning against the Santana, Dagger grinned with a cigarette in his mouth.
“There’s nothing I can do about it. Should l pay you overtime?” Jiang Chen jived and took out his electronic key and opened the car door.
“Mr. Jiang, it’s against the protocol to bribe civil servants.” Miao Jun coughed.
Dagger didn’t pursue the topic any longer. He flicked the cigarette and asked nonchalantly, “Is the software done?”
“You’re gonna have to ask the overseas team.” Standing in the doorway, Jiang Chen s shrugged.
“Good luck.” Dagger nodded and gave a cursory glance at the passenger seat. “Where is your assistant?”
“I’m going to matchmaking today.” Jiang Chen’s expression looked somewhat helpless.
Miao Jun burst out laughing, his arm on the steering wheel.
“What era are we currently in?”
Jiang Chen did not bother about him, put up the car window, and started the car.
Dagger extinguished the cigarette butt and got into the car as well. He patted Miao Jun on the shoulder and said dismissively, “Follow him.”
The location of the matchmaking was in the downtown of Hucheng, roughly 20 kilometers away from the small area where Jiang Chen came from.
In the entire Hucheng, only the Jialin commercial area was still considered flourishing. Although he wasn’t planning on agreeing, he would still give the other her due respect. He wouldn’t just find a random KFC to purposely anger her away.
Near Lake Restaurant.
It was Jiang Chen’s first time here, but because of the positive reviews on the internet, he called to reserve a private room. The place had beautiful scenery, Jiang Chen heard that it was possible to view the panoramic beauty of the East Like in the private suite on the top floor.
After parking his car in the parking space, Jiang Chen readily locked the door and headed to the suite under the direction of the server.
Dagger and Miao Jun did not follow him upstairs, and just picked a seat on the first floor, and then ordered a few dishes. They had been eating takeout food for the past few days, even the not picky Dagger was starting to get sick of it.
Upstairs, Jiang Chen ordered a table full of dishes and then began to play with his phone while waiting for the arrival of his date.
To be honest, he had never attended any matchmaking session before, so he somehow felt nervous.
Not long after, Jiang Chen heard approaching footsteps near the door.
The door opened, Jiang Chen put away his phone, but the instant he looked at the door, his expression froze.
He was not the only one who was frozen.
Standing in the doorway with one foot in, the gorgeous but expressionless face also appeared bewildered.
“It’s you?”
The two people simultaneously exclaimed in astonishment and both fell into an awkward silence.
Black wool sweater matching with a pair of black stockings—the not-so-colorful outfit didn’t seem to be suitable when on a date, but on her, it perfectly complimented her serene yet stunning aura, which was normally hidden behind her expressionless face.
Jiang Chen didn’t expect that it was his company’s CEO who would show up. He had never heard Xia Shiyu mentioned her hometown before, but coincidentally they were from the place and even lived in the same circle.
What a coincidence.
Xia Shiyu also didn’t think that the person to show would be him. Compared to the shocking reality, an unknown anxiety was welling up inside her.
Her lips quivered slightly and felt her face was burning. The rejection spiels brewing inside her head after an entire night jumbled inside her head. The usually calm Xia Shiyu was now frozen at the door.
[If it was him, should I reject?] Xia Shiyu was utterly lost.
Looking at Xia Shiyu’s messy expression, for some reason despite feeling awkward, he wanted to laugh as well.
“Uh, have a sit first.”
“Mhmm.”
Head buried in silence, Xia Shiyu hastily at across Jiang Chen, and then remained silent.
Jiang Chen noticed that her pale neck went beet red all the way to her cheeks.
Silence ensued for a long time.
“What a coincidence, I didn’t think it would be you.” Jiang Chen unnaturally laughed and broke the silence.
“Mhmm,” Xia Shiyu assented again, her head still lowered, but there was nothing more.
He had no experience on what to say during a matchmaking session.
The set of words he prepared before coming here were completely useless.
He was aware of Xia Shiyu’s affection for him that night. Or more precisely, right after that news conference, he had already been vaguely aware of it for a long time.
Different from Liu Yao as a mistress, and Ayesha with a different cultural background, Xia Shiyu would never accept him with another woman.
But because of the faint selfishness in his heart, he couldn’t do or say anything that would make her give up on him despite knowing that the ambiguity of his action towards her would hurt her more in the end.
Reject? Or accept?